That whole episode with him in her office had shaken her
badly. She knew her reactions had been strong and probably
as harmful as his, but then what could he expect? She won-
dered again if perhaps he simply wasn't the man she'd
thought he was. Rebecca had insinuated as much in her last
email message. Or perhaps Jed didn't actually love her, not
the way she loved him. Maybe it was all for the best to find
these things out now before their relationship progressed, or
digressed, any further. On the other hand, perhaps this was
all just a great, big misunderstanding; a problem that could
be resolved with some serious effort from both of them.
Maybe she should just give the whole thing some time to
cool down and sort itself out. She tried to take comfort in
Shakespeare's words, "The course of true love never did run
smooth." Besides, she chided herself, didn't she have enough 186Melody Carlson
on her plate right now? Here she was running the paper and
what suddenly appeared to be a boarding house for home-
less men. Not to mention she had guests coming for
Christmas. She looked at the days of December left on her
calendar and actually gasped. Why, she hadn't even taken
the time to do her Christmas shopping yet!
Barbara Harris came to dinner the following night, and
while Leah and Jed were missed, the others still enjoyed a
pleasant evening. It was plain to see that Barbara was
growing quite fond of young Michael. She even mentioned
how she saw a lot of her Steven in him, jokingly saying that
she just might adopt him as her own son.
"I was so impressed with Michael's sermon on Sunday,"
she continued as they ate their dessert. "I think he has a rare
gift; I, for one, have never been quite so touched by a church
service before."
Michael smiled, then spoke with sincere humility. "If you
were touched, Mrs. Harris, it was by the hand of God, not
my feeble words."
a "Well, while I've never considered myself to be much of
God-fearing person, I do think that God must be speaking
through you somehow," she said with conviction. "Tell me,
what are your long-term plans, Michael? How long do you
think you'll stay in Pine Mountain?"
"Until God tells me to go somewhere else. Or," he
laughed, "until there are no more unbelievers left to preach
the good news to."
Gavin had been very quiet during all this talk of religion,
but finally he spoke up. "I've never been one to think much
about God, one way or another," he admitted. "That is, until
I decided to quit drinking. In my rehab program, they told
us to look to a higher being for help. I thought it was just a
big gimmick at first, but then I wasn't having any real suc-
cess on my own either. So I finally asked God to help me, and Looking for You All My Life187
I can't even explain what happened, but it was amazing, and